Croatian ESP vocational high school pupils and university students’ habits of using online sources Brankica Bošnjak Terzić (TSRB; FSB) Ana Gabrijela Blažević (FFZG) International Conference INFuture2015: e-Institutions – Openness, Accessibility, and Preservation

Introduction  Information literacy (IL) = set of abilities needed to recognize, locate, evaluate and effectively use needed information (Lasić-Lazić and László, 2014).  Importance of IL:  the Internet is used increasingly for educational purposes (Lubens, 1998, 1999; Jones and Madden, 2002, etc.)  online sources are becoming the main information sources (Browne, Freeman and Williamson, 2000; Paris, 2002; Metzger, Flanagin and Zwarun, 2003)  IL is considered essential for lifelong learning (Lau, 2006) 2

Previous studies  vocational high school pupils and university students: a) are early, heavy and capable Internet users (Jones & Madden, 2002) b) prefer online sources over printed ones but:  have difficulties evaluating found information  have poor searching skills (Julien & Barker, 2009)  processing of information is superficial and aims at the quantity and not the quality and critical explanation of the data (Lubans, 1999; Metzger, Flanagin & Zwarun, 2003) 3

Technical English for Specific Purposes (ESP)  very specific content prone to rapid change and development Related reseraches:  Croatian students are very interested in the use of translation technology, especially in translating domain specific texts (like ESP ) (Seljan, 2011)  translations performed by Google Translate from English to Croatian are of lower grade than the ones in opposite direction (Seljan, Brkić & Kuciš, 2011) 4

Study

Purpose of the study To determine ESP pupils and students’:  habits, beliefs and frequency of using online sources for educational and ESP purposes  usage of online sources when translating ESP texts  background on IL education  expectations about being educated on IL by ESP teachers 6

Hypothesis H1: Croatian pupils and students are heavy internet users, both for general and educational purposes. H2: Most participants didn’t have any previous IL training, but still are aware of the importance of being educated about IL. 7

Hypothesis (2) H3: The main criteria for choosing an online source is the ranking on the search engine and the web page design. H4: One of the most frequent sources used in translation among ESP pupils and students is Google translate. H5: University students will use more specialized online sources than vocational high school pupils in translation process. 8

Participants N=63 9  Technical school Ru đ er Bošković - Technicians for Mechatronics  N=30 /all males  3rd graders/17 years old  studying ESP for the first time  the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture  N=33 /22 males/11 females  2nd year /20-21 years old  N= 22 ESP for the first time; N= 7 studied ESP for 2 years, N= 3 studied for 3 years ESP pupilsESP students Average years of learning English = 10.51

Instrument 1st part:  translation of ESP text according to language level  no suggestion in regards to online source 2nd part:  anonymous questionnaire according to the aims of the research  18 questions (multiple choices, short answers, yes/no questions, Likert scale) 10

Results

 at least one hour per day online (32% more than 3h!) H1 = supported 1. General and Educational Internet Use 12 Usage of the Internet for......general educational purposes...ESP Never 07 Rarely 728 Sometimes 253 Often/very often 3113

2. IL Background and Awareness  prior IL education, N = 8 (13%) (N=6 in high school, N=2 in elementary school) 13  79% = easy to find information online

2. IL Background and Awareness (2) H2 = supported 14

3. The role of ESP teacher regarding IL training  ESP teacher knows what information is correct and where to find it help translating improve learning specialized text easier 15

4. Critera in choosing best online source 16 H3 – partially supported M=3.19 SD=1.24 M=2.70 SD=1.21 M = 2.33 SD=1.16 M=2.05 SD=.99

5. Use of online sources for ESP purposes 17 M = 0-1,49; never blog; thesaurus; terminological dictionaries; encyclopaedias M = 1,5-2,49; rarely web pages; forums; portals; manuals; social networks; presentations; monolingual and bilingual dictionaries; books and journals; pictures; spellcheckers M = 2,5-3,49; sometimes video ; Wikipedia M = 3,5-4,49; often online translation services

18 M = 0-1,49; never blog; thesaurus; terminological dictionaries; encyclopaedias M = 1,5- 2,49; rarely web pages; forums; portals; manuals ; social networks; presentations; monolingual and bilingual dictionaries; books and journals ; pictures; spellcheckers M = 2,5- 3,49; sometimes video; Wikipedia M = 3,5- 4,49; often online translation services low frequency of online sources use most used online sources - not specific enough for ESP classes low frequency of online sources use most used online sources - not specific enough for ESP classes 5. Use of online sources for ESP purposes

6. Used sources while translating 19

20  Google translate = the most frequent used online source in ESP classes  ESP students = use more specialized online sources than vocational high school pupils H4 - supported H5 – partially supported

 ESP students, N = 32  LTS, N = 32  prior IL education = 43.8% (groups A and B)  should IL education for LTS be mandatory?  groups A and B = 100% yes  group C = 70.6% yes ESP university students vs. language teacher students basic IL Group A – other major = Information and Communication Sciences (N=8 ) Group B - with prior IL education (N=7 ) Group C – without prior IL education (N=17) Group A – other major = Information and Communication Sciences (N=8 ) Group B - with prior IL education (N=7 ) Group C – without prior IL education (N=17)

7a.ESP university students vs. language teacher students basic IL  96.9% = language teacher should point to quality online sources  84.4% = language teacher should educate students on IL 22

23 7.b ESP university students vs. language teacher students basic IL

24 7.c ESP university students vs. language teacher students basic IL

7.d Use of online sources - ESP vs. LTS students 25 ESP M = 0-1,49; never blog; thesaurus; terminological dictionaries; encyclopaedias M = 1,5- 2,49; rarely web pages; forums; portals; manuals; social networks presentations; monolingual and bilingual dictionaries; books and journals; pictures; spellcheckers M = 2,5- 3,49; sometimes video; Wikipedia M = 3,5- 4,49; often online translation services LTS + (rarely) ++ (sometimes) + (sometimes) ++ (often) + (often) - (sometimes)

Conclusion (1)  frequent habits of using the Internet for general and educational purposes  low frequency of online sources usage for ESP  no previous IL training  self-estimated as highly capable in searching for information  awareness - IL education is desirable  Google translate – most frequently used online source 26

Conclusion (2)  online sources – very useful in learning ESP  cooperation of ESP teachers with librarians  lifelong education of teachers in IL  the implementation of IL education on all educational levels will enable students:  to become critical users of online technology  to choose the best online information, explanation and translation while scrolling the Internet  to achieve deep and meaningful learning 27

FOR YOUR ATTENTION… 28 A NY QUESTIONS

Literature  Alexander, Janet E.; Tate, Marsha A. Web wisdom : How to evaluate and create information quality on the Web. Hillsdale, NJ : Lawrence Erlbaum,  Browne, M. Niel, Freeman, Kari E.; Williamson, Carrie L. The importance of critical thinking for student use of the Internet. // College Student Journal, 34(2000), 3, 391–398.  Eisenberg, Michael B. Information Literacy : Essential Skills for the Information Age. // DESIDOC Journal of Library & Information Technology. 28(2008), 2,  Fidel, Raya et. al. A Visit to the Information Mall : Web Searching Behavior of High School Students. // Journal of the American Society for Information Science. 50(1999), 1,  Flanagin, Andrew J.; Metzger, Miriam J. Perceptions of Internet information credibility. // Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly. 77(2000), 515–540.  Frazer, Megan. Students Leave High School Without Necessary Information Literacy Skills. Massachusetts School Library Association, ( ). 29

 Grimer, Deborah J.; Boening, Carl H. Worries with the Web: A Look at Student Use of Web Resources. // College & Research Libraries 2001, 11-[22].  Julien, Heidi; Barker, Susan. How high-school students find and evaluate scientific information: A basis for information literacy skills development. // Library & Information Science Research. 31(2009), 1,  Jones, Steve; Madden, Mary A. The Internet goes to college : how students are living in the future with today's technology. Washington, D.C. : Pew Internet & American Life Project, [2002]. media/Files/Reports/2002/PIP_College_Report.pdf.pdf ( ). media/Files/Reports/2002/PIP_College_Report.pdf.pdf  Lasić-Lazić, Jadranka; Špiranec, Sonja; Banek Zorica, Mihaela. Izgubljeni u novim inforamcijskim okruženjima-prona đ eni u informacijskom opismenjavanju. // Medijska istraživanja. 18(2012), 1,

 Lasić-Lazić, Jadranka.; László, Marija. Mjerila informacijske (ne)pismenosti. // Informacijska tehnologija u obrazovanju : znanstvena monografija / Lasić-Lazić, J. (ed.). Zagreb : Zavod za informacijske studije, 2014,  Lau, Jesus. Guidelines on information literacy for lifelong learning : final draft, reviewed July 30, literacy/publications/ifla-guidelines-en.pdf ( ). literacy/publications/ifla-guidelines-en.pdf  Lubans, John. How First-Year University Students Use and Regard Internet Resources. (1998) ( ).  Lubans, John. Key Findings on Internet Use among Students. (1999) ( ).  Metzger, Miriam J.; Flanagin, Andrew J.; Zwarun, Lara. College student Web use, perceptions of information credibility, and verification behavior. // Computers & Education. 41(2003), 271–

 Paris, Paul G. Critical Thinking and the Use of the Internet as a Resource. // International Education Journal. 4(2002), 1,  Seljan, Sanja; Brkić, Marija; Kuciš, Vlasta. Evaluation of Free Online Machine Translations for Croatian-English and English- Croatian Language Pairs // INFuture2011: The Future of Information Sciences - Information Sciences and e-Society. Zagreb : Department of Information Sciences, 2011,  Seljan, Sanja. Translation Technology as Challenge in Education an Business. //Informatologia. 44(2011), 4,  Špiranec, Sonja. Virtualna učionica NSK ili kako su knjižnice zakucale na vrata e-učenja. // Edupoint. 25(2004), 8. ( )  Špiranec, Sonja; Banek Zorica, Mihaela. Informacijska pismenost: teorijski okvir i polazišta. Zagreb : Zavod za informacijske studije Odsjeka za informacijske znanosti Filozofskog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Zagrebu,